


Language confusion

by Upstarsfromreality



Series: Bringing it all back home [3]
Category: Elementary (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-17 07:23:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17555909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Upstarsfromreality/pseuds/Upstarsfromreality





	Language confusion

Sherlock listened impatiently to the end of the recording on his phone. Detective Scott's voice came back, polite and formal, “Thank you for listening to that, Mr. Holmes. Can you confirm that the voice identified as Voice 1 is yours?”

“I am not going to answer that at this time, Detective Scott,” said Sherlock.

“You do understand that this is a murder investigation?” asked Detective Scott.

“Yeah, that was fairly obvious.”

“Do you wish to interfere in our investigation?”asked Scott. 

“I should think that's fairly obvious as well, given that I moved here three months back after confessing to the crime in question,” Sherlock shot back. He no longer considered himself under any obligation to be even moderately polite to the NYPD.

“Very well,” said Scott. “We will continue our discussions with the FBI. I will also mention this conversation to Scotland Yard. I understand you and your partner, Ms. Watson, are currently working with them.”

Sherlock tried to ignore the way Detective Scott had stretched out both R's in partner. “I said I will not confirm that at this time, Detective Scott. You have given me your contact information, and I will call within 24 hours.” He hung up before she could point out that there was no way the identity of the voice would change during that time.

Sherlock checked the time before putting his phone away. Joan would be up now, but wouldn't be ready for work for an hour or so. He decided not to wait that long and went next door to pound on the door.

Joan opened it, Vi balanced on her hip. “Oh hi, Sherlock,” she greeted him. “Come on in. Kitty is on her way with Archie but Margaret's running a little late.”

Sherlock smiled. When Kitty switched from detecting to counseling she could no longer afford a full time nanny, so she recommended Margaret to Joan. It was just like Joan's generous nature to ask to share her instead, with the two ladies splitting the cost and alternating days for whose home the children would be in. It was an arrangement that allowed both children more attention than they would have got in daycare, and gave each woman some days without an extra stop in their commute.

Vi fussed slightly, and Joan cuddled her, cooing in Mandarin. Sherlock had heard this many times over the past two months, but he was shocked to realize it had been three days since he had heard Joan speak English to the infant. With a greater shock, he remembered hearing Joan actually forbid Margaret from speaking German to Vi. He decides to go to the source of the change, rather than the change itself.

“How has your mother been doing? I heard you getting a call from Oren a few days ago at lunch.” 

“Worse, but not worse than expected,” answered Joan. “Oren says she's starting to forget words more often.”

“Forgetting English words faster than Mandarin, perhaps?” suggested Sherlock.

Joan nodded. “That's typical of Alzheimer's patients who speak two languages. They lose the second language faster.”

“Is that why you don't want Margaret speaking German to Vi? To avoid the language delay or confusion sometimes seen in trilingual children?”

Joan opened her mouth to protest, then nodded again. “I'm scared that by the time she learns to talk, my mother won't be able to understand English. I need to make sure Vi can speak Mandarin, to avoid that.”

“Watson,” asked Sherlock as gently as possible, “do you want to go back to New York? You could give your mother more time to spend with Vi.”

“Not as long as you can't go,” said Joan.

“That may not be as long as we've thought. I just got off the phone with Detective Scott, Marcus's former paramour from Internal Affairs. She wanted me to identify my voice in the recordings of my conversations with Hannah and the Captain. It seems Marcus has made good on his promise to hand them over soon than expected, although of course Ms. Scott did not identify her source,” said Sherlock.

Joan looked at Sherlock. He could see the conflict in her face. “What did you tell her?” she asked him.

“Nothing so far. I asked her for twenty-four hours. I know you've been unwilling to get the Captain into difficulties, but it appears the difficulties are coming for him. If I tell Detective Scott the truth, this could all be over for us. We could go back in a few weeks”

Joan looked down at Vi and nodded. “Thank you,” she told Sherlock. “Thank you for lying in the first place, so we could try to protect the Captain. Thank you for not protecting me when you realized it wouldn't work. I won't tell my mom yet, but I'll let Oren know I'll be home sometime in the next couple of months.”

Joan and Sherlock smiled at each other with understanding.


End file.
